Ken Frieden

Born in New Rochelle, New York, he received a B.A. from Yale University in 1977, and went on to complete a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature there in 1984.[1] At Yale he studied with Harold Bloom, Jacques Derrida, Geoffrey Hartman, Paul de Man, and J. Hillis Miller. Based on his dissertation, his first book was Genius and Monologue.[2] The book used key-word analysis of “genius” to show how intellectual history parallels literary history. Frieden’s second book, Freud’s Dream of Interpretation,[3] juxtaposed Freudian interpretation and medieval rabbinic interpretation, arguing that in spite of marked similarities, Freud made efforts to deflect attention from this.

From 1985 to 1986, Frieden was a Lady Davis Post-Doctoral Fellow in Jerusalem.[1] During that time he studied Yiddish and Hebrew literature with Khone Shmeruk and Dan Miron at the Hebrew University. While teaching at Emory University (1986–1993), Frieden focused his research and teaching on twentieth-century Hebrew literature and nineteenth-century Yiddish fiction. He held a Yad Hanadiv Fellowship in Jerusalem (1988–1989), working closely with Aharon Appelfeld and James Young. While at Emory he published numerous articles and received tenure and promotion to associate professor in 1990.

Frieden was hired by Syracuse University in 1993. Since then he has published and edited several books. His comprehensive study Classic Yiddish Fiction (1995) surveys the three major authors S. Y. Abramovitsh, Sholem Aleichem, and I. L. Peretz.[4] Collaborating with Dan Miron, he edited Tales of Mendele the Book Peddler,[5] later reprinted by Random House. Collaborating with Ted Gorelick, he edited a new English translation of Sholem Aleichem's monologues, published as Nineteen to the Dozen.[6] With a secondary interest in Israeli art, he commissioned the jacket cover print, "The World of Sholem Aleichem," from the Russian-Israeli artist Boris Luchanski.

Frieden arrived in Syracuse during the same year that Robert Mandel became director of Syracuse University Press. They created the series Judaic Traditions in Literature, Music, and Art, which has produced more than 50 volumes at the Press. Frieden edited the anthology Classic Yiddish Stories of S. Y. Abramovitsh, Sholem Aleichem, and I. L. Peretz, including his own translations of Abramovitsh and Peretz, Ted Gorelick's translations of Sholem Aleichem's monologues, and Michael Wex's translations of Sholem Aleichem's Tevye stories.[7] His influence has been felt in many other books on Yiddish and Hebrew literary culture he has edited. Recently he edited collections of Hebrew short stories in English translation by Etgar Keret[8] and David Ehrlich.[9][10]

Frieden has traveled repeatedly in Eastern Europe to explore the remnants of Jewish culture there, particularly in Lithuania, Ukraine, and Poland. He has been a visiting professor or research fellow at the universities in Tel Aviv, Haifa, Jerusalem, Berlin, and Heidelberg; also stateside at University of California, Davis and Harvard.

Frieden’s most recent research shows the significance of travel narratives in Hebrew literature, at the fault line between the Enlightenment and Hasidism.[11]

He is also active as a Klezmer clarinetist, having founded “The Wandering Klezmorim” in Atlanta in 1991.[12] He often performs with “The Wandering Klezmorim” and “Klezmercuse” at festive events in Central New York.

• "Ken Frieden Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine", Syracuse University Faculty Directory
• The Wandering Klezmorim (musical group), webpage